My biggest, latest and most heartwarming feedback i received after nine years of fashion. With a big hug and special thanks to you, my mentor, Oscar!
‘After your internships at Thera Hillenaar and the International Theatre Amsterdam, ITA, you came back to the fashion department as a new Sophie; Stoofpeer!
Most likely you used this artist’s name already for longer, but I connect Stoofpeer to your graduation semester at our department.
Full of energy and determined to work on your graduation project ‘Ik pas in de binnenkant van mijn jas’.
A collection title that can easily be translated in English, but just sounds better in Dutch
By sharing your thesis with me, written in your own unique ‘Stoofpeer’ language, my understanding of- and respect for- the underlaying message of your graduation project grew. Impressed by the way you are-able-to convey a personal, sensitive, and complex story in such a lighthearted manner, both as a writer, as well as a designer, gives your work the quality of a conversation piece.
Your artist’s name Stoofpeer also relates to your collection...
Even though your ‘wearable objects’, based on strawberries and pears, are not cooked, nor stewed, but fresh and juicy.
The brightness of their colors and layered textures stood out in the grey concrete Rietveld Fashion Show location, delivering an equally strong and vulnerable color explosion.
The fresh appearance of your models, being reinforced by the fruity infused earworm effect of your soundtrack.
That the profile of ‘fashion designer’, would not be the right fit for you, I knew already for a longer. But what would be the right profile to connect to Stoofpeer?
It was only at your Final Exam, that I realized what the right description would be:
A painter!
You painted with words for every project you started with and ultimately in your thesis,
You painted with shades and layers of tulle to enhance the 3 dimensionality of your wearable objects, and finally you painted your collection with paint on white canvasses, for the graduation exhibition...
Stoofpeer is a painter!’
Congratulations!
Warmly, Oscar